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Hello From CWB Lawn Care

10-06-2012, 02:36 PM

Hello, My name is Bill Wesolowski and I am the owner of a brand new lawn care business in Englewood, FL. I have just moved down from the Chicagoland area where I was an electrician of 25 years and the owner of WillTech Electric. I have decided to try a new adventure in lawn care, which I really do enjoy. I am 42 years old I have a very small arsenal of lawn equipment right now which consists of a 25hp 48" cut automatic trans Craftsman riding mower, a Toro personal pace walk behind mower, a gas weed wacker and a gas blower vac. I pull this equipment in a Ford Expedition using a 12' enclosed trailer. I am having a bit of a tough time acquiring new customers, but I will continue trying. I started September 7th and I have one customer to date, sad right? I have passed out about a thousand flyers with my wife. I guess we just need to keep on keeping on. Any suggestions for low cost marketing? Well I just wanted to introduce myself I am glad to see a nice forum for fellow lawn care people.

Congrats on the new business!
With the flyers, thats the wonderful world of marketing. I try everyday to come up with a great way to market. Its hard, but hard work will pay off. I suggest craigslist, thats always a good one, and its free. Normally you'd be starting way too late in the season, but being from FL, I have no clue what your markets like. Maybe offer a fall special???

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I've suggested in the past , and have done it myself to find a local thriving business with a nice small / medium sized property to maintain for free. In exchange , they let you place your business cards / advertising on their counter etc. I used my fiancÚs families gyro shop to network, put my card inside the to go bags and it worked out really well. I'm in my 4th yr here in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and mow 30 or so yards a week and have a customer base of 100 or so for mulch , hardscapes work. I'm not a fan of mail box fliers as it takes hundreds to yield 1 or 2 calls that aren't even guaranteed ! I believe in networking through everyone you come in contact with, be personable, get a website and get on google search ASAP! It's gonna be tough not knowing anyone in your new area, maybe join a moose club or amvets and have a couple beers with a local and tell him your situation . Best of luck !!

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Thank you for the great ideas and well wishes. Some of the ideas I am currently doing, such as the website, Craigslist, and Google + along with every other free local business sight. I think the idea of having your material stabled to every bag in exchange for free cutting is a great idea. I have heard both good and bad about the door hangers. It is a lot of work for very little response. Thanks again to both of you and good luck with your business.

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Englewood is a great place to be, hope to retire there one day. Your competition is very, very high, it will take time to build a good business there. In the mean time, the fishing is Awesome even off the bank if you don't have a boat yet.

I'll be down there next weekend, helping my Mom move back down there. I would try and find another job, until your lawn care business grows and can support the family. It's going to be a slow grow most likely. Good Luck!

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Sprinkler Buddy, Yes the competition is very high here! I knew it was going to be a rough road ahead trying to get customers. I actually do small electrical work for people to keep some money coming in. The Electrical work is way busier than the lawn care, but after 25 years I am just sooo tired of that. I sold my business in Illinois and moved down here for a nice change, I want to do what I want to do now which is lawn care. I will just have to forge forward and keep getting my name out there in front of as many people as I can. Does your Mom need a lawn care service?

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Are you plugged into any social groups or networks where you are now? Do you have family in the area or friends? If so, have you handed them some business cards and asked them to talk to their friends about you?

When you ran your electrician business, what kinds of things did you do to gain customers?

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Sprinkler Buddy, Yes the competition is very high here! I knew it was going to be a rough road ahead trying to get customers. I actually do small electrical work for people to keep some money coming in. The Electrical work is way busier than the lawn care, but after 25 years I am just sooo tired of that. I sold my business in Illinois and moved down here for a nice change, I want to do what I want to do now which is lawn care. I will just have to forge forward and keep getting my name out there in front of as many people as I can. Does your Mom need a lawn care service?

My mom is a die hard, she has her own Z-turn even. lol She loves working in the yard.

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Are you plugged into any social groups or networks where you are now? Do you have family in the area or friends? If so, have you handed them some business cards and asked them to talk to their friends about you?

When you ran your electrician business, what kinds of things did you do to gain customers?

When I was in business with WillTech Electric we were in many different things that are not down here. We were on RedBeacon which is like a service magic type thing, we were in Elocal electricians. We did do door hangers with that business here and there. I had an ad that ran every week in the newspaper, but here the paper is insane $145 per week for small ad. I had a Dex yellow pages add. There is a big difference with that business though and that is if I drove an hour or hour and a half even most of the time my work covered it at over $50 per hour labor. With this business if you stray off too far your gas expense overtakes your money for the job. For example I had a call come in yesterday for a one time cut for a property that is 19 miles from me. it has been maintained and cut just 10 days ago typical 8-10000 sq feet not many trees no fence. I shot him $30 to cut it and he agreed. I am cutting it today but by the time I get there and back the gas will be close to $10. I felt like I couldnt turn it down because I need to start building customer base. The best I can hope for is more work from more of his neighbors when I drop my door hangers off to them.